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(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)Rx Depot Agrees To Halt Practice of Assisting U.S. Residents with Canada Drug PurchasesExcerpt: "Oklahoma-based Rx Depot on Friday dropped legal opposition to a preliminary injunction that required the storefront pharmacy chain to end operations as part of a lawsuit filed on behalf of FDA by the Justice Department, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Companies In Rush To 'Wellness' Incentives for EmployeesExcerpt: "Cash payouts may sound radical, but they're among a growing array of incentives employers now use to tip rising health care costs in their favor. Companies such as Xanser Corp. and The Container Store hope that, by encouraging employees in their battles against the bulge and other maladies, the employees' health care utilization will decrease and so, in turn, will the companies' health care premiums." (Dallas Business Journal via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)

Text of White Paper by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: Retiree Drug Coverage (PDF)10 pages. Excerpt: "CMS is presenting multiple options for employers and unions to offer enhanced drug coverage to retirees at a lower cost ... [W]e are interested in hearing what employers are likely to do under the various proposed options.... Employers and unions can choose between two broad options in offering additional retiree drug coverage: offering coverage that qualifies for the retiree drug subsidy, or enhancing the basic Medicare drug benefit." (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)

Employers' Views of the Future of Retiree Health Benefits In Higher Education in the United States (PDF)48 pages. Excerpt: "This paper explores the myriad issues that employers are now considering as they decide their future role in providing retiree health insurance. The ultimate focus of the paper is on what is happening in the world of higher education and how employers in this sector of the economy are currently treating retired faculty and how the health insurance now being provided might change in the future." (Sylvester S. Schieber published by the TIAA-CREF Institute)

Consumer-Driven Plans Await Test from Sicker EnrolleesExcerpt: "It's been smooth traveling along the consumer-driven health itinerary so far, report insurers and third-party administrators. Early results show consumer-driven health plans - either based on a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) or the newly available health savings accounts (HSAs) - are having the intended effect of getting consumers to question health-seeking behaviors and reduce discretionary spending.' (Employee Benefit News)

Insurance Ills Put Squeeze on ConsumersExcerpt: "Anyone who was paying for health insurance in 1988 will remember the last great American health insurance crisis, the one so severe it sparked a national debate on the cost of private insurance and even led to an ill-fated attempt at a national health plan." (The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Insurers Object to New Provision in Medicare LawExcerpt: "A major obstacle to the success of the new Medicare law has emerged in recent weeks: private insurers have told the Bush administration that they will not expand their role in Medicare if they have to serve large multistate regions, as the White House wants." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

Wide U.S. Inquiry Into Purchasing for Health CareExcerpt: "The Justice Department has opened a broad criminal investigation of the medical-supply industry, apparently to determine whether hospitals and other medical care providers are fraudulently overcharging Medicare and other federal and state health programs for a wide array of goods ..." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

Bush Healthcare Coverage Predictions Seem to Fall ShortExcerpt: "If the Republican-controlled Congress enacted President Bush's entire health care agenda, as many as 10 million people who lack health insurance would be covered at a cost of $102 billion over the next decade, according to his campaign aides." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)

What Happens When Stay-At-Home Moms Head Back to Work?Excerpt: "For 'Going Back to Work: A Survival Guide for Comeback Moms,' authors Mary Quigley and Loretta Kaufman surveyed 1,000 women about the transition from mom to wage earner. TIME spoke with them about their findings: ..." (TIME Magazine)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Federal Defense of Marriage Act Upheld As ConstitutionalExcerpt: "A federal judge in Washington state last week upheld the federal Defense of Marriage Act as constitutional, marking the first time a federal court has ruled on the 1996 law, which defines marriage as the union between a man and a woman." (Washington Times)

Employees Not Inquiring Much About Same-Sex BenefitsExcerpt: "Despite the increased coverage devoted to same-sex benefit policies, human resource departments have not had a flood of questions coming from their workforce." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)